The quality of other recordings which Currende and Erik van
Nevel have made for Accent and other labels was enough for me
to know that this was likely to be an enthusiastic review even
before the CD was out of its gatefold cover. I made their recording
of the music of Francesco Mancini my Recording of the Month
(Et’cetera KTC4031 – see review)
and I recommended their Buxtehude Cantatas and Motets (Accent
ACC24184 – see June 2010 Download
Roundup: First Impressions).

The inclusion of the one surviving Mass by the Flemish composer
Gery de Ghersem, most of whose music perished in the fire which
accompanied the Lisbon earthquake, was an added incentive to
listen to this before the other CDs and DVDs which arrived in
the same batch. In the event, neither the music nor the performances
disappointed and the recording and documentation provided added
enjoyment.

The additional works are not chosen at random. de Ghersem borrowed
from Francesco Guerrero’s Ave Virgo for his Mass, and
five posthumous Masses by Philippe Rogier, his colleague in
Madrid, accompany de Ghersem’s sole contribution to the 1598
collection in which his seven-part Mass was published. The English
exile Peter Philips and Pieter Cornet were de Ghersem’s colleagues
in Brussels.

Thematically, too, the programme holds together: the rest of
the music is in honour of the Virgin Mary – Regina Cœli
and Salve Regina are two of the anthems in her praise
at the end of Vespers or Compline at different times of the
year. Rarely has she been depicted more regally (Regina Cœli
= Queen of Heaven) than on the Crivelli painting employed for
the cover of the CD. Rogier’s music is gradually being rediscovered
(two fine recent recordings from Linn and one from Hyperion*)
and his two-choir version of Regina Cœli (track 10) is
one of the highlights of the programme alongside de Ghersem.

de Ghersem’s music is in the high renaissance manner, still
in full flow in Northern Europe in 1598; though I suspect that
it would have sounded a little old-fashioned to contemporary
Italian ears, that’s certainly not to decry it. Indeed, I very
much welcome this (unique) chance to hear the music of this
‘illustrious unknown’ as the notes in the booklet describe him
and my admiration for the music of Guerrero, Rogier and Philips
will be well known to those who regularly read my reviews. If
anyone does.

The singing of Currende and Erik van Nevel’s direction are every
bit as excellent as I had imagined and the recording does them
full justice. They maintain a brisk pace – for example in Peter
Philips’s 8-part Salve Regina of 1613 (tr.13), by comparison
with the recording by Winchester Cathedral on Hyperion CDH55254.
Both tempi work well when one takes into account the comparative
sizes of the forces and the different acoustics: in fact, anyone
who succumbs to the appeal of Philips’s music might well move
on to that inexpensive Hyperion recording or the equally inexpensive
Naxos recording of the 5-part works which I recommended alongside
it in my May 2010 Download
Roundup.
The multi-lingual notes by Renate Weytjens are informative and
set de Ghersem and his music well in context. The English translation
is idiomatic, as is that of the texts. The version of the ordinary
of the Mass follows the (flat and awful) modern-language ICET
version employed in Roman Catholic and Anglican usage, with
‘we’ substituted for the ‘I’ (credo, not credimus)
of the Latin text. The English translation omits the final two
clauses of the Creed and the French the final clause. The German
translation runs over to the next page.

For some reason, Accent fail to indicate the timing of track
6, Guerrero’s Ave Virgo Sanctissima: I had to obtain
that and the total time from classicsonline.com, who offer the
CD as an mp3 download for £7.99 – here.
The back cover of the gatefold manages to misprint de Ghersem
as ‘de Gershem’. You can also listen courtesy of the Naxos Music
Library if you have access and would like to try the recording
out. Neither classicsonline.com nor the Naxos Library offers
the excellent booklet, however.

Lovers of renaissance polyphony need not hesitate to acquire
this recording.

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